Cartonnage
painted funerary mask from Sedment, Ptolemaic Period. Head and shoulders with a wig and
lappets. The image of the face doesn't necessarily
usually the face of the owner.
From c.2000 BC funerary masks were made wood and from
c.1500 BC inner mummiform coffins or mummy cases were manufactured of
cartonnage. Cartonnage is made
form soaked layers of linen, and sometimes papyrus, which is moulded
into shape. It is covered with plaster and painted. During
the Greek period mummies often had masks and decorated pieces of
cartonnage, which were put onto the wrappings of the body, held in place
or ornate bandaging.